The last few years have seen a significant increase in on-line gaming, especially over the Internet. There are many sites that allow players to participate in games such as poker, roulette, blackjack, bingo and so on. The commercial success of such sites means that this is now a crowded marketplace, and accordingly sites are keen to find mechanisms to differentiate themselves from one another. One particular concern for on-line gaming businesses relates to the random generation of cards, roulette numbers, and so on. This random generation is generally done by a computer behind the scenes (in effect). Such a lack of transparency may dissuade players from participating in games if they have any doubts about the fairness or reliability of the random generation.
In addition, there has been increased coverage recently of real-life gaming events such as poker tournaments, especially as the amount of available television air-time grows rapidly with cable, satellite and digital television. The providers of such programming are interested in mechanisms to drive increased revenue from their shows.